The Hunter in the Mist
Chen Lingfeng's vision went black, and his consciousness began to blur.
In a daze, my vision cleared, and I regained consciousness, only to see that terrifying and hateful face again.
"Please, spare me!" He finally broke down. His legs, which he had never knelt in his life, went weak. Transparent tears streamed down his soul and vaporized in mid-air.
"Death is the only hardship throughout the ages—" Lin Xu shook his head, his expression indifferent, and with a thought, pulled him into an illusion.
Back then, the Chen Lineage won, but they didn't let the Jiang Clan off the hook. They even targeted Jiang Wanqing, who posed no threat whatsoever, dragging this innocent bystander into the mess.
Martial artists are not known for their spiritual strength. When facing a Soul Refining cultivator like him, Chen Lingfeng's soul gradually became sluggish within a dozen seconds, allowing Lin Xu to manipulate it at will.
A few minutes later, accompanied by a piercing scream, Chen Lingfeng's soul exploded into fragments, turning into wisps of green smoke and dissipating.
Lin Xu ignored the vanished enemies, landed, and entered the building through the passage of the earthen fortress.
After circling around a few times, they entered an ordinary room, searched around in the corner, and then opened a hidden compartment.
He took out a wooden box and opened it casually, revealing several items hidden inside.
The dragon-patterned jade pendant has the exact same attributes as the Ice Heart Jade Pendant. When the two pendants are placed together, no set bonus is activated, and they seem to have no special features.
The jade pendant was originally given to Chen Hao, but it is now kept in a box.
Lin Xu picked up the dragon-patterned jade pendant and slowly brought it closer to another phoenix-patterned jade pendant. He vaguely sensed that when the two jade pendants got close to a certain position, they would emit inexplicable fluctuations, which seemed to be somewhat similar to the beacon of Wayfinding Compass.
"Could this be the Spirit Realm ruins that Grandpa mentioned?" Lin Xu thought of the talisman brush drawings that Elder Jiang had given him, as well as the talisman master inheritance of the Jiang Clan, and his heart stirred slightly.
After taking over Xuanwei Monastery, he conducted a thorough investigation of the temple's heritage. He discovered that, apart from the two fundamental techniques, the temple had many shortcomings in various aspects of cultivation, including magic, weapon crafting, alchemy, and talismans.
More specifically, apart from the incense offerings and the rather wondrous methods of spreading the teachings at the Incense Offering Hall, other aspects of the inheritance either only have a basic foundation or are completely nonexistent.
Judging from the inheritance and blueprints obtained by Elder Jiang, this Spirit Realm ruin is at least of considerable value in terms of talisman inheritance.
"Perhaps, it could fill the gap in the Daoist temple's capabilities in this area—"
Lin Xu put away the jade pendant with satisfaction and looked at the second item, a scroll. Upon opening it, as expected, it was the game instance "Age of Empires" that Chen Lingfeng had longed for until his death.
This was originally a best-selling real-time strategy game from a century ago, containing both farming and combat elements.
After the transformation of the Spirit Realm, the missing parts were filled, and this instance became the favorite of countless lords. However, it was obtained by the Jiang Lineage and then stolen by Chen Lingfeng, ultimately benefiting himself.
"What a kind person!" Lin Xu remarked as he put away the scroll.
Jiang Shiyan put a lot of pressure on himself, yet he also "specially" provided him with resources that could rapidly increase his strength. This was forcing him to grow quickly!
Lin Xu was very satisfied with this senior colleague.
The third item was a detailed miniature model of a building.
Name: Magic Garden Level: 1 Range: 100 square meters Effect: Plant growth speed +1000%
Introduction: A masterpiece of arcane magic, containing the dual mysteries of time and space. "It's actually a Western-style magic-inscribed building?" Lin Xu was overjoyed, his eyes lighting up as he looked at the miniature model.
Like spirit-patterned buildings, magic-patterned buildings use rune arrays to manipulate energy and add special effects to the buildings.
Lin Xu observed the Magic Garden, a purple-grade magic-patterned building that, judging from its architectural features and description, possessed both the ability to accelerate time and expand space.
"If we could decipher the blueprints of this building and remodel it into a spirit-inscribed structure for widespread adoption across our territory, I wonder what the outcome would be?"
He happily put away the treasure. Once placed, this miniature architectural model could not be put away, and Chen Lineage Village had no Spirit Vein or spiritual caves, so it could not support the operation and consumption of the magic-patterned building.
The fourth item was an account book, which Lin Xu examined and found contained records of Chen Lineage Village's harvests and expenses over the years.
The village is about 11 li in diameter. Apart from a large earthen fort in the center of the village with a diameter of 1 li, the entire territory is covered with lush green wheat fields.
The 35,000 mu of wheat fields produce about 2,600 tons of wheat each time, with a harvest every 6 months.
"A village that has just been developed." Lin Xu looked at the village's gains and expenditures and shook his head.
The villagers themselves need to consume a certain amount of food, and with the addition of the Chen Lineage's more than 300 adventurers, the village's output is basically all consumed. In recent years, it has been able to maintain itself entirely thanks to the high profits from real-world trade.
Several hundred tons of wheat are still hidden in the cellars of the earthen fort, which was an unexpected gain during this operation.
"After Chen Lingfeng lost power, the Chen Lineage tightened the supply of spirit wheat to the Qimeng City. Once this village merges with the Xuanwei Monastery, things will return to normal."
Lin Xu casually tossed the ledger back into the empty box; he had already sensed that the distance between this territory and the Xuanwei Monastery was shrinking.
Clearly, the Bond between the village and Xuanwei Monastery has deepened after they seized this territory.
"Master, something terrible has happened! That huge monster is chasing us..."
Just then, an urgent telepathic message arrived through the mysterious connection between the Dharma Seed.
Hearing Qiuqiu's tense voice, Lin Xu's expression tightened, and he quickly left the earthen fort and took to the air.
With the help of his Evil Eye's vision, he saw the edge of the territory, where a familiar monster was rapidly approaching.
"It's that eerie giant spider!"
Looking at the abstract shape and writhing, messy limbs, Lin Xu felt a chill run down his spine—this damned thing had actually marked the target from miles away and relentlessly chased after him!
Name: Giant Weird Spider Race: Mysterious Level: 10
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Physical condition: 13
Spirit: 13
Intelligence: 8
Life: 1300
Mana: 1430
Skill: [Beast - Azure] Beast unit, HP * 10, MP * 10, HP Regeneration + 10/sec, MP Regeneration + 10/sec, Damage + 50%, Critical Hit Chance + 5%, Critical Hit Damage + 50%
[Mental Corruption - Blue] Weaves a spiderweb with eerie mental power. Targets seen by the Giant Weird Spider will be marked and fall into a state of continuous mental corruption. If the target's will collapses, they will degenerate and transform into Weird Spider. [Bone-Piercing Plague - Blue] All targets who see the Giant Weird Spider will be marked and relentlessly hunted. No matter where the target is, even isolation or spatial barriers cannot prevent it from locking onto the mark until the target dies or the caster perishes. [Vicious Curse - Blue] Weaves whispers with eerie mental power, causing targets to fall into random negative states such as "disorientation," "confusion," and "rage." Targets continuously in a negative state have a 30% higher chance of spell failure and will gradually fall into sanity collapse and transformation. Evaluation: The madness of a middle-aged man.